Just A New Life
by Az The Dragon
Summary: -cancelled- All legends with great heroes start with 'Once upon a time there was a great evil' and ends with them winning. But what if... WARNINGS: T rated for future chapters.


Sonic, Shadow, Tails and so on and so forth are of Sega and NOT mine (btw, they will appear in the second chapter, third at the most). The 'girl' belongs to me.

**Authoress' Note: **No fear people, I'm not dead, just a little bit blocked by the evil Writer's Block. I know how I should go on, and I usually go on when I actually work on it. The only problem is that I lack the inspiration to start working on one of my fics.

This work was started way back when I just started writing, and when I still had that Great Inspiration (notice the capitals), but I lacked quality and, somewhat, good sense. I still wonder how I COULD write something like that. Ugh… I shiver just thinking about it…

Anyway, after so much time passed on (very partially) thinking about what to do with this fic, I decided to completely rewrite it. It was thanks to someone (or more people, can't remember exactly, and I don't have the net to look when I'm writing this) that reviewed this fic asking me to go on and even thanks to the character created for this story (you'll get her name when I say so, and only then). Yes, the girl kept on growing in my mind even if I wanted the fic to be erased. She became a complete different person from me (yes, this fic was started, shamefully, to be a self insert, and I despised the idea after a couple of chapter, that's why I started developing her into someone else).

This new version is completely different from the earlier one, and for who read it, you will notice it as soon as you start. For the ones that are new, well, enjoy the story.

**Summary:** All legends with great heroes start with 'Once upon a time there was a great evil' and ends with them defeating this evil. But what if this evil survived? This is the story of a girl destined to accomplish what her race could not while, at the same time, she has to cope with the fact that her life could easily be just a dream of her mind. _Or worse._

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Just A New Life

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Chapter One

Endless Routine

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Her life was rather normal; wake up the morning, eat breakfast, go to school, go home, do something and then go to bed. Always the same routine…

And today was another day of the routine.

She got up, ate what she had in the kitchen, and then she prepared herself for school; she wore black pants, a dark red sweater and a pair of comfortable sneakers and then, quietly like she was used to, she walked to the door, glancing at her apartment like it was the last time she would see it.

It was mainly bare, just the essential that a house needed; a table, a fridge, a sink and a stove in the kitchen, a small couch in the small living room, a single bed in the only bedroom and nothing at all in the bathroom. There was not even a washing machine in there. It was too small to house one anyway…

Nothing adorned the walls, not even the smallest picture that usually people hung to make a home more comfortable, to show some moments of their life taken on a picture to others.

Not that she could do that anyway; her life was as bare as her house. Every day the same… She couldn't even remember why her life was so devoid of moments of joy with her family; _where_ her family was, if she had one at all, or for how much time this was going on.

Murmuring something under her breath, she grabbed a long scarf, rolling it around her neck, and a stuffed coat, easily securing it around her small frame. A pale pink hand grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door open, letting the cold air hit her full in the face, making her long black hair wave gently behind her.

Partially closing her eyes and hiding her mouth and nose under the scarf, she closed the door and walked away, backpack on one of her shoulders and hands in the pockets of the jacket she had picked up before she left. Like usual, outside was freezing cold, and the stuffed protection was almost useless against the biting and angry wind.

Yes… this was another standard day. Just like yesterday, the day before yesterday and every other day of the previous week or year.

Strangely enough, however, there was something strange in the air; she sensed it as soon as she started walking on the street. It was something that she couldn't put her finger on, and this made her stomach turn upside down, making her feel all edgy. From time to time, she also looked around suspiciously, thinking that someone was following her with intent eyes.

But on the street there were only her footprints in the snow, and no one else's. This was starting to get really creepy. _Especially_ when you where in an empty and cold street and visibility was almost zero because of the falling snow, which was falling quite hard.

She reached down under her shirt and took out her only prized possession; it was a small silvery diamond shaped pendant, hanging on a fine silver chain, and it was the only thing she truly cared about.

It was unknown from where it came from, or who had given it to her; it was simply there from the beginning, or as far as she could remember. A thin finger, rendered paler for the excessive cold, caressed one of the two faces of the pendant, the one with some foreign writings on it. They were small, but extremely detailed, and it looked like that the silverish surface had been carved by hand, and not by machine like someone could think. Strangely enough, she was sure of that.

On the opposite face of the pendant, there was a strange drawing, she couldn't really make out the significance, but it always intrigued her whenever she looked at it. It was composed of a small orb placed in the middle and with two spiral arms attached to it. Exactly like a galaxy. On each corner there where two mirroring small triangles, pointing to the one on the next corner, and between them, some more strange writings.

All in all, it was just a normal looking pendant, but for her… for her it was extremely important; it was the only source of what little comfort she could find in her empty and cold life.

Light brown eyes looked up from the small object as she found herself in front of a shopping window; the room inside looked warm and comfortable, with people going about their own affairs.

Her eyes looked inside, past her reflection, uncaring that her knee long black hair was starting to collect the falling snow; there was a kid inside, a small girl. Light brown hair and eyes and in a white dress. She was looking up at an old woman and talking to her, probably wishing to leave the shop and go to play at the park with her friends.

The mother looked down at her and smiled gently, patting the girl on the head and telling her something, probably that they would go as soon as she was done there, then resumed shifting through the dresses on the stand.

That was before the mild aged woman noticed the girl looking at her and her daughter. Acting quickly, she grabbed her children's hand and moved away – but not before giving her a nasty glare -, behind one of the shelves in the shop. At the abrupt movement of the customer, an employee looked outside the window, and did the same exact thing the woman did.

He looked at her with that hateful and angry stare, only that he didn't left.

After that, it was just a chain reaction; customers and employees become hostile with the girl on the other side of the window, making the shop become cold looking. Even the vibrant colors seemed to become dull. It was always like that. Whenever she looked at something that was 'warm', that something quickly lost the warmth and became cold.

Whenever she tried to reach the warmth and comfort, it shied away, leaving her in the empty cold. And that hurt. Terribly. Even after so many years she still suffered for that, and even after she renounced to look for those two things, they still ran from her.

It was worse than a curse.

Looking one last time at the now cold room behind the glass, she turned around and resumed her walk into the piling snow, trying to not fall deeper into her desperation and sadness.

And that was when she felt it again.

The strange sensation had returned, but this time it was stronger, and it was at her back. It was a presence that inspired fear and respect, but deep down, something told her that it wasn't evil. Negative, yes, and strongly too, but not evil.

'Listening' better to this presence, she could also feel something that she had never felt before, but that, strangely enough, she knew of. Quickly opening her eyes, and partially wondering when she had closed them, she turned around, but found nothing. It seemed like the strange presence had been wiped away by the now furious wind.

Blinking in confusion, she took a step, then another, and then another again until she reached the spot where this presence had been 'standing'. There was nothing there, not even the faintest trace of a footprint; just cold snow. Maybe it was just a joke of her senses.

Sighing and shrugging the event off, she turned around to resume walking towards her destination.

Or she would have done that if it wasn't for the fact that she was now in the middle of a deep snow buried city. The snow was coming down so hard that it was almost impossible to see the other side of the street. And it was even harder to see that faint dog shape.

She stood there, watching it watch her, for interminable seconds before the wind became stronger, faster, angrier; just like if it possessed a will of its own and sent snow into her face on purpose. The girl covered and whipped away the offending element from her eyes, resuming to stare at the other side of the street, and murmuring in disappointment when she noticed that the shape was not there anymore to return the gaze.

Turning around, and glancing one last time to where the shape had been, maybe hoping that it would be there again, but finding none, she walked away, in direction of her school, thinking about the strange event.

Step after step, she reached the gate of the school building and looked at it, trying to pick up its exact form. And while she was there, trying to make out the slightly dark gray shape in the snowy mist, a question crossed her mind.

Why was she there?

Or better, why she couldn't remember her previous time spent in that structure?

There was something in there; something sinister and evil, but for some strange reason, she had always been unaware of. Perhaps it was because she never remembered her time in there that she kept on going, or maybe for something different; but now… but now it was different.

The dog had changed that; it had broken the routine, and as a result, she became aware.

But what was in there that made her shiver in fear? What was the reason she couldn't remember anything of being in there?

Raising a hand, she pushed the iron gate open, knowing, but hating, that there was only one way to know it; besides, even if she turned for home, she would just keep on walking forever, for something was telling her that her house was no more where it was supposed to be.

The gate grated to a stop, disturbing the unnerving quiet; now everyone knew that she was coming, and her nerves told her that this was not going to be easy.

Whatever it was…

Silently, trying to not disturb the silence with her footsteps, she covered the distance from the gate to the door of the building. From there, everything seemed normal; the walls where a very light beige, the floors where covered in big slabs of white marble and the objects that where common in a school where tidy and spotless.

But that was only appearance; it was too perfect to be real…

Releasing the door, she walked inside, noticing, for the first time, that it was colder than outside; the jacket and scarf where completely useless in that place, and her breath came out as white puffs of mist.

She looked left, then right; the place was quiet and silent. Practically dead. There was no one there; not even a mosquito. Just her… Her and that feeling in her gut that the place was wrong. She could not place her finger on it, but there was something that unnerved her like it had never happened.

After a couple of seconds, she turned around to look out of the glass door; she didn't know why or for what reason she did that, but when she faced outside, she stepped away from the glass panels that were the doors until she was a good distance away, feeling more unnerved, or better, scared. The girl had never seen something like that, nor never heard about it. The street was gone, the iron gate was gone, _everything_ was gone; even the carpet right outside the doors. Now, in their place, there was an endless void of cold white.

She didn't notice that she was still stepping away from the door until she bumped into the opposite wall with her back, and once still, her mind finally managed to get a grip onto itself and resume reasoning as normally as it could in that situation.

But that was not enough to make her move from where she had stopped; she was too transfixed on the white expanse outside to do that anyway. It was scary, yet, at the same time, it was fascinating. It was not everyday that your world, city, or even street was erased like that…

A sound, a hissing to be precise, and she turned her head to the right, trying to focus on what was moving into the dark shadows created by corners and desks; then, two bloody red eyes appeared seemingly out of nowhere, followed by hundred others. Be either bigger or smaller than the first pair. That was enough to motor her body into movement, and she quickly started to move away from them, backtracking down the left path, wanting to be as far away as possible from whoever owned those terrifying eyes.

Another hiss, and whatever it was stepped into the light, freezing the girl in place, mind flooded with terror and heart racing madly. The thing was a snake, with green and light green streaks on its back and gray belly; the forked tongue flickered in and out, tasting the air like every snake did when hunting, and those bloody gaze seemed to burn a hole in her own.

'_Bring her to me…'_

The words floated in the air, accompanied by a very loud hiss that resounded in the no more empty hallway; the girl cringed, shivering in fear, silently pleading for someone to save her from that situation, or at least show her the right way to get out of that fast becoming nightmare.

'_Bring the accursed girl to ME!'_

At those new words, the snakes seemed to hiss to each other, probably talking about the order, or discussing a strategy, while advancing in their crawling; when they stopped whatever they were doing, at least a hundred mouths opened, revealing sharp fangs dripping with unknown venom.

That was lovely, she decided, oh so very lovely. Now, thanks to that dog, she was facing a small army of poisonous snakes with blood red eyes and she had nothing to defend herself with. Ignorance was truly a bliss…

Still, now it was too late to go back; she knew it. Whoever was behind all this, wasn't going to allow that, or better, it was going to place her into another endless routine, only worse. Besides, they said that it was better to die fighting than anything else they had in store for her; there was only a mayor problem. She _did not_ want to die.

Quickly spinning around, she faced away from the crawling beasts and started running down the apparently free path, trying to distance them, but having no success at all as the hissing only increased in intensity and noise. She turned corners and ran through doors, slamming them shut behind her, which seemed to only delay the snakes, and openly crying in terror as the place became more nightmare looking – dark and hideous corridors and all – and less like a school building.

The escape from the little beasts took her to what was supposed to be largest room of the edifice used for general meetings; quickly, and before the creatures reached her, she slammed the door shut, hoping with all her heart that they were either going to ignore her, not find her or that the door would keep them where she wanted them to be.

Placing an ear to the ruined wooden door, she listened closely for any sign of the crawling fiends, and when she found no one, she relaxed against the door, trying to regain her breath and rubbing her arms and hands to get back the warmth that was supposed to be there.

And it was in that precise moment that she hear the faint and amused laugh float in the air; she slowly turned around and whimpered, pressing her back to the door, trying to just not break down into an hysterical mass of terror and sorrow. The snakes, now she realized, had only been leading her there, like the voice had commanded; if they really wanted to attack, they would just have increased their speed and then lunged for an ankle.

'_Finally…' _The huge beast stepped away from the darkness, revealing a seventeen feet long snake, dark green back with yellow streaks and a dark gray underbelly, '_It took you your time, little disgrace… Let us start, then.'_

The huge maw opened, revealing two long and sharp fangs dripping with acidic venom, and the bloody eyes narrowed to tiny slits; it took only a couple of seconds for the big snake to aim for the girl, and when it was ready, it coiled back like a spring and then lunged for her.

Letting out a scream of fear, she dropped to the ground, covering her head with her arms to shield away from the flying debris of both door and cement wall; not thinking at all, she stood up and ran to the other end of the room, watching in panic as the creature raised its head from the hole it had produced and shook it, confused at why he it something hard instead of warm flesh.

The bloody gaze turned and locked on her once again, hate and rage well visible in them as the snake curled its almost non existent lips into a snarl, '_Little accursed creature, how you _dare _stepping away from me?'_ It hissed angrily, coiling itself right in front of her only escape route, '_Come to me and I will promise that you will forget everything again. Tomorrow will be just like yesterday, and you will not feel fear again.'_

The girl leaned onto the wall, pondering; the offer of the snake was quite tempting, and she almost took it, but then she remembered that dog shape. Surely, the canine was trying to tell her something, or it would have never showed itself during a winter storm… but what if that was just a coincidence? Perhaps that dog was there for something else…

She stepped away from the wall and faced the snake, scared eyes locked onto the beast's own ones; but again, what if the snake was tricking her into something worse? She could not remember what happened yesterday had happened, so, what ensured her that she was not going to repeat this day again and again without realizing it?

She bit her lip and lowered her gaze to the ground; the decision was hard to make, after all. She could accept the snake offer's and forget, with the possibility of repeating the current day for all eternity, or just keep 'fighting' and discover what happened at the end of the day if she ended it in a different way.

The girl stepped back and leaned again onto the wall; she could chose to forget, which was the easiest way out, but the idea of repeating this forever was too scary for her own tastes. But what assured her that ending the day differently made things better?

Tears streamed down her face and her throat tightened, and it was only a matter of seconds before she started sobbing uncontrollably; this was hard, and she could not decide.

The big snake snorted, or snorted as much something like it could do, and moved forwards, '_If you cannot choose, then let me choose for you…'_

The creature lunged again for the girl, but again, instead of meeting her flesh, it smashed into the wall; at the enormous impact, the beast's body tossed about, coils flailing into the air as it hissed in pain, blood seeping from a large cut into its forehead. It was a pure miracle, she decided, if she managed to get away without being hit.

Once the fits ended, the snake straightened itself and faced the girl it hated so much; she was standing, it noted, amongst the chairs located into the corner to its right. She was currently curling behind one of them, using it like a shield of some sort, and sobbing in fear, and possibly, it hoped, in sorrow.

'_Don't you understand?'_ It asked, forked tongue flickering into the air, tasting it, '_You are trapped. Just like a little mouse. There is no other way but to accept my offer.'_

For the third time, the snake jumped towards the girl, mouth open and fangs dripping with venom; she had no time at all to think of a way out of this, but her body did that for her. Pale hands gripped the chair she was hiding behind and raised it so it was between the snake's open maw and her.

The creature had no time to stop itself from colliding with the tool, and ended with a mouth full of metal and plastic; the lunge, however, was too strong for the girl to block, and both her and the snake ended colliding with the wall behind them. At the impact, the girl gasped for air as at the same time she pushed the coiling beast to the ground, using the chair to pin it down enough to open an escape route.

She was lucky, however, for the creature was momentarily unconscious, rendering her task easier; but there was something she had forgotten, and when she realized it, it was too late. A sharp pain onto her left ankle made her yelp before it made her sick. Her head started spinning, her vision went from one to three images and the cold seeped into her body, reaching the bones.

A hand grabbed the small snake that had managed to reach her without getting noticed and dislodged it from her ankle, throwing it away; she stood up, fighting the urge to throw up, and slowly made her way out of the room, not noticing that she was stepping over all the other snakes, which did nothing without the order of their boss. The small one had been probably been ordered to bite her; that was why it had done so even after the big one had been rendered unconscious.

A couple of corners and corridors later, she stumbled across descending stairs, which she took since she was being unable to think coherently; she descended, a hand onto the railing, and came across a totally new space. It was a huge cavern with a lake of molten rock in the middle; in the exact center of this unusual lake, there was a small island connected with the other side by an arching bridge.

And on top of this bridge, as blurred as ever, the dog figure; she could not decide if it was her eyes or the heat radiating from the lava that made it like that. Letting her head fall down, she released the railing and wobbled towards that creature standing on the bridge with the idea that, if it had taken her to that point, it could bring her out too. And so, step after painful step, she reached her destination only to find that the dog had moved again; this time it was standing on the island, right in front of a hole that she did not notice before.

Groaning again, and feeling her body become all numb for the effect of the poison, she pressed onwards, trying to reach that shape that became more blurred as time passed; she knew that she had not much time left to reach it, and she knew that if she lost to the poison now, she would not be granted with another chance like this for a very, very long time.

When she finally reached the other side of the bridge, she looked down the hole, nearly vacant eyes trying to focus into the dark abyss the dog had led her to; there was nothing there, and her confused mind pondered if that was really the best way out of that nightmare. But this time she had no time at all to make her decision; the venom in her veins was quickly taking effect, making her heart slow down, her senses drift away from her, threatening to render her unconscious.

It was just a matter of take or refuse, go or remain, trust the dog or trust the snake…

Tired eyes lifted and locked onto the four-legged creature, now just a black blurred shape against a red and orange background, for a last time before she closed them and let her body fall forwards, into the seemingly bottomless hole.

She fell for what seemed an eternity, feeling her heart stop and breathing cease because of the poison; but she had not lost, for she was still aware. She, with the help of that strange dog, had broken the routine, and had won; now something better was waiting for her. Even death was better than that nightmare.

Time passed; she was not sure how much. It could have been a couple of seconds, some hours, or even whole years. Time did not exist there; it was a meaningless thing. A second seemed an eternity, and an eternity seemed a second; it was absurd, she knew that, but she could not find any other explanation to what she felt.

She had a lot of time to think, yet she was standing in front of the hole with the dog just a second ago. In that place nothing but her consciousness existed; she could not see, nor hear or feel, but it was not bad like someone could think for she was not feeling cold anymore.

She wondered a few times if she was really dead, and if that place and conditions were really what was after death. In some ways, it was a bliss; after all, there was no pain, no hunger and no cold. Just the consciousness… For other aspects, it was… sad…

She was alone with her thoughts and memories as her only companions in a void that was neither white nor black; it appeared black only because it lacked colors. It was more complete darkness than black. Still, it was better than before. There, time had no meaning after all, and she could make the eternity look like a second.

Letting her mind drift through all the memories she had, she automatically 'curled up' to gain some sort of comfort and let the non existent time pass; memories of the snake resurfaced, and she quickly cast them away, opting for less scarier ones. She dug deep within her mind to try and find anything regarding the time before the routine, but eventually came up with nothing; there was nothing on her parents, nothing on what she cared about. There was simply nothing.

A mental sigh later, she let her memories rest and focused onto the void, making the 'time', or whatever it was, slow down to almost a stop; on second thought, the place was not as nice as she thought it was. Perhaps she should have stayed with the snake; at least with its option there was a material world.

_"Stop that, Alex. She is gone…"_

It had been soft and far away, but it was enough to alert the girl of someone else's present; her mind stretched forwards, trying to reach this voice, trying to tell it that she was there and to not leave.

_"C'mon, let's go. There is nothing more you can do. It's a miracle she lasted this long in her precarious conditions."_

_"That's why I can't give up now! Not after all she went through!"_

It was another voice, lighter than the first one, and more determined into whatever the owner, a male, was doing.

_"Damn it, Alex! Stop that! She is dead, and you know that!"_

The girl, at those words, mentally wailed in sorrow and fear, pleading for the second voice to keep trying, to not let her alone in that place; she stretched her imaginary body and tried to lift her right hand to reach for the voice. It was, however, heavy to lift; heavier than lead, like everything else of her.

_"Alex, stop it. I know you care about her, but… don't you think that it would be best to just let her go and finally rest in peace?"_

For the first time in that void, air, which before did not exist like time, started to lack, and she struggled with her lungs to drag in what she needed; panic struck her mind, and she started to command her reluctant body into motion again. She was not sure when she actually became aware of a body around her consciousness, but now she was desperate to make it work again like it was supposed to be.

Tears of frustration ran down her imaginary cheeks and angry screams echoed into her mind; this was not what she wanted. She wanted to live! It was her right to do so! No one, not even gods could decide otherwise!

A spluttering, a twitch and then a booming noise pervaded her ears; it was located inside of her, and it took her a second or two to realize that it was her breathing. It was an enough shocking event that her body jumped into motion and her senses exploded into a flurry of feelings, sounds and colors.

She sat up and quickly shot her hand forwards, reaching for the second voice, letting it curl around something round and soft, weakly trying to drag it to herself; she was still feeling like lead and tired, but it was a real improvement from the void she had been in.

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**End Chapter Authoress' Note:** Woah! Look at this! Ten page! Btw, quick notice on CT for the fans of that fic: no, it's not dead, nor cancelled. I'm just trying to sort out a few things about it, and, well, when I tried to read the previous chapters so I could remember what I wrote, well, I shivered… might end up rewriting that too. The characters and everything else is nothing I like anymore.


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